Sacramento
by Rachael1510
Summary: One shot. Before the BAU. Both JJ and Emily are undercover. Will they be able to get the job done?


Criminal Minds

Don't own Criminal Minds, just playing.

Lauren Reynolds opened her tattoo studio Fiendish Body Ink, her studio was nestled down a dingy side alley in Sacramento CA, one of the top three worst drug areas in California. Lauren was a tall slim woman who was always packing heat. Although a gifted artist, she couldn't afford anything better in California. That wasn't actually true, her real name was Agent Emily Prentiss, she was undercover in a tattoo studio to gather intel on drug smuggling. This is where the FBI had decided to set her up as the drug smuggling in California had been heating up in the past months.

Her first client was a gangbanger named Big Joe, she completed his tattoo in the only blank bit of skin, base of his spine. Gangbangers never travel alone, and Big Joe was no exception. He travelled with two minions, they spoke in code about the next delivery of flowers, which Lauren internally rolled her eyes as she knew perfectly well it was about drugs. She mentally took notes on what had been mentioned to be passed it onto her handler Graeme Smith.

Big Joe was pleased with her work and promised to let her do all his friends tattoos and tipped her well.

After Big Joe had been by, she was suddenly flooded with clients, thankfully the gangbangers tattoos weren't particularly sophisticated, and she was able to churn out several tattoos that day.

A week passed by and Lauren found herself in possession of a lot of information which her handler gratefully received, so far, the FBI hadn't been able to arrest anyone, but they had disrupted majority of the shipments. Lauren enjoyed being an Agent, but she also was enjoying this undercover assignment and being able to explore her artistic flair.

Emily had been an Agent for six years; she had a particular flair for undercover work, and this was her fourth undercover assignment. Emily was a very private person and rarely shared anything with anyone. Her parents were diplomats who taught Emily from a very young age, not to show any emotion. She had never been close to her parents. Her parents died in a plane crash in India four years ago. Although she had been undercover at the time, she had managed to get away for a few days to plan and attend the funeral.

April faded into May and Lauren lost herself in her assignment and had managed to pass lots of information onto the FBI and they had made some major busts but hadn't yet managed to find the main courier.

The gangbangers now used Fiendish Body Ink as their main tattoo studio and hung out there often. Lauren was pleased by this as it made sure she had a steady stream of information being overheard by her.

At the end of May, the studio door chimed, and a gorgeous blonde walked in, approaching Lauren with a smile. She introduced herself as AJ and asked for a lyrical type tattoo. Lauren quickly sketched something up and AJ approved it, as it was a sizeable tattoo, it was going to take some time for Lauren to ink. AJ and Lauren fell into conversation and although they didn't admit it to each other, both were attracted to the other, Lauren tried to fight it, she couldn't when she was undercover.

After the tattoo was inked, Lauren gave the cleaning and care instructions. AJ slipped her number to Lauren with a wink. Lauren gave a shy smile and accepted it although had no intention of actually using it.

Beginning of June, AJ realised that Lauren wasn't going to call, she took the initiative to go back to the studio to get another tattoo. AJ was an undercover agent with DEA whose real name was Jennifer Jareau, JJ for short who was infiltrating the Mados gang. She had been undercover since last June and had finally made it up the ranks to second in command. Although she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't help giving her number to the gorgeous tattoo artist Lauren.

AJ grinned when she walked to Fiendish Body Ink as it had the acronym FBI, wouldn't that be something if the FBI was running it. Stranger things had happened in her line of work. It was too early for it to be open, but she was hoping Lauren would be there setting up for the day.

AJ knocked on the studio door, Lauren cautiously looked out of her office where she had been coding some messages for her handler. When she saw it was AJ, she quickly hid the papers she had been working on and went to answer the door. Lauren quickly ushered AJ in and through to her office where they couldn't be seen from through the studio windows. "What can I help you with AJ?"

"You never called me" AJ pouted.

"Sorry about that, I have some personal things going on and I didn't want to drag you into it, I'm afraid my issues won't be resolved for quite some time" Lauren explained

"Maybe I can help you with your issues?" AJ flirted. "I wish you could, but I really can't involve you right now" Lauren said quietly.

AJ had been leaning against Lauren's desk and had been shuffling papers absently, glancing at the drawings. AJ thought Lauren was a very talented artist, as she shuffled papers, she came across the message that Lauren had been coding. "Hey what's this? Looks like pictograms?"

Lauren's heart thudded when she realised AJ had picked up her half-coded message, she quickly grabbed it and laughed "Oh this, I'm interested in coding and I thought I would give it a go"

AJ grinned and gave it back, although privately she thought it looked like some of the coding all agents learned at the academy. She shrugged it off thinking it was wishful thinking.

"Can I help you with anything AJ? Usually my mornings before the studio opens, I spent sketching ideas"

"I wanted another tattoo but not something gang related like the rest of the guys get"

Lauren showed AJ some ideas of things she had sketched with her in mind. Lauren just couldn't get the gorgeous lithe blonde out of her mind. AJ loved the ideas and immediately wanted her favourite tattooed on her shoulder. "Glad to see I was on your mind"

Lauren blushed and continued to prep her work station in order to get AJ tattooed. AJ's tattoo took three hours and the ladies fell into conversation and Lauren was subtly probing for information on next drug runs as she knew from her months of undercover information gathering that AJ was second in command to the gang she was investigating. AJ noticed the subtle probing as she had been trained to do and turned the conversation back to tattooing and questioned why a tattoo artist had so few tattoos. Lauren explained she had a few tattoos, but she didn't want them visible in case she had a change of career path later in life. "That's a really good idea Lauren but you love being a tattoo artist"

"Yeah, I do but I also know that tattoo's rise and fall in popularity and although right now, they are incredibly popular, in a few years' time, they may no longer be seen as cool"

AJ hummed as she contemplated Lauren's words, she was right of course to plan for her future in case her chosen career path changed.

August came and went, and the FBI managed to shut down the major drug smuggling route and the gangbangers were getting antsy and starting to suspect everyone of being informants, much to AJ's disgust, to keep her cover she had to order some beatings. She was puzzled by how the FBI had managed to shut down the major route when she hadn't yet passed on that information, again Lauren floated through her mind.

AJ got up early again and headed to Lauren's studio, hoping to get some answers. She banged on the door, Lauren answered the door quickly, she had been expecting her handler especially since it was 6am. "What are you doing here so early?" Lauren asked puzzled.

"I had some questions that I think only you can answer" AJ advanced towards her pushing her against Lauren's desk, AJ surrounded Lauren with her body, she softly kissed her neck and murmured "We have had some drug routes been raided and we've only ever discussed it here at the studio, the gang has been interrogated and come up clean, so the weak link has to be you"

Lauren's knee had become weak as AJ had come closer and then started murmuring in her ear, until her mind focused on the words being said, at the words, her blood turned to ice, she slowly and carefully reached down to grab her gun from the base of her back where she always kept it. AJ felt the movement and grabbed Lauren's wrist to prevent her from reaching her gun.

The two were locked in an embrace, both hardly daring to breathe, AJ relinquished her hold on Lauren's wrist and said "I can protect you, just tell me what you've passed on"

"I haven't passed anything on, I don't need protection"

"C'mon Lauren, it has to be you and right now I'm the only person to have figured that out, won't be long till the Boss gets it, he's smart and really pissed that his major routes have been busted"

Lauren exhaled slowly, her mind frantically working out what to say, she pushed AJ to the side while she paced up and down. AJ had one last card up her sleeve, she had spoken to her boss at DEA and now knew that Lauren was an agent with the FBI. "Emily, I'm serious, you got to get out of here, The Boss is going to figure this out soon"

Lauren whirled round "What did you call me?"

"Please, I know you're an Agent Emily Prentiss with the FBI, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau with DEA"

Emily looked at JJ, "Thanks for the heads up, I'll start clearing my stuff out"

As Emily picked up her personal belongings, not that there was much as she never kept much personal stuff in the office, JJ put her hand on Emily's shoulder and pulled her towards herself. "I'm still waiting on you calling me"

"Once you finished your assignment then we can grab a drink" Emily smiled

"I'd rather a full debrief" JJ flirted.

Just then there was a bang on the door, Emily poked her head out and realised it was her handler. She let him in and briefed him on the situation. When he heard her cover was blown, he immediately phoned for back up to go bust everyone. During this time JJ had been on the phone to her handler, explaining the situation and how after 14 months undercover, they finally had all the top players, so it was now time to shut them down.

Emily and JJ strapped on their respective vests and gave the briefing to the joint task force assembled before them, the fifty agents in front of them were split into 5 teams. Emily and JJ gave each team their assignments and then lead the teams out to arrest the Boss Ian Doyle and the rest of his Mados gang.

The bust went smoothly to begin with but when Emily and JJ went to get Doyle, he fought back viciously, he shot Emily in the shoulder, JJ got a blow to her temple. When JJ saw Emily go down, she found an inner strength and pounced on Doyle, bringing him to the ground, she handcuffed him and read him his rights before assisting Emily who was still conscious despite the pain.

Later that day in hospital, found both agents being debriefed by their respective superiors. Afterwards JJ made her way to Emily's room, she found Emily dressed and sitting up in a chair arguing with the nurse about going home. The nurse flung her hands up and walked out the room. "Difficult patient?" JJ smirked as she leant against the door frame

Emily looked up in surprise, her face softening when she saw who it was "I hate hospitals and recover better at home"

JJ grinned and said "I've been told, we're sharing a flight home so let's go"

Once home in DC, Emily decided she no longer wanted to be part of an undercover unit and decided to apply for the BAU. She told JJ about her decision when they went out for dinner and JJ grinned and mentioned she had left the DEA and joined FBI to become a profiler.

The Directors of DEA and FBI were so pleased at the job their Agents had done, they had allowed the transfers to go through.

Emily and JJ's relationship went from strength to strength and although they worked together, they never let their personal life interfere with work. Agent Hotchner their new unit chief had made this very clear when he realised, they were together. The Agents respected the new unit chief and didn't want to let him down.


End file.
